Gardens Are For Families

Of all my childhood memories the most abiding are those I spent playing in my parents’ garden. To me magic was the feel of the cool damp grass against my skin, the sweetness of new peas straight from the pod when my father wasn’t looking and observing wildlife and nature just a few steps from the back door – who hasn’t fallen asleep to the evening song of the blackbird. Add to these, simple joys of playing outside and the garden becomes an altogether more magical place for anyone, be they young children or grown up ones.

There is nothing quite like a summers day! The cool grass tickling your feet, lying gazing up at the sky.

A garden is an area for safe active play, a place to act out fantasies to develop their imagination, a place where they can have space for themselves. They are places to play sports and interact with friends developing social skills. For more active adventurers, certain areas can be made into a ‘Jungle Garden’ with climbing ropes, swings and ‘jungle drums’ to summons ice cream. For the imaginative, a ‘Fantasy Garden’ with ‘living furniture’ and a climbing frame creating a fairy castle or pirate ship or is it a space cruiser today? For the inquisitive, the ‘Science Garden’ introduces weather monitoring, studying insects and growing flowers and vegetables. So which one describes your children? Chances are it is all three.

However, gardens shouldn’t just be the domain of the children. They are for families and it is as important for the family to interact together in the garden as it is to sit down to Sunday lunch together.

No matter the size of the plot ‘the Family’ can be designed into the garden space and that is something that we at Accent Garden Designs focus on when we talk to our clients about holistic garden design. We like to include relaxing spaces where the whole family can spend time together with seating areas to create a pleasing spot to share a meal or just sit and talk, and with our planting plans give all year round interest through form and leaf colour as well as flowers.

Our garden at home has always been an important part of our family life and with the right design, any garden, big or small can be just as magical for any family.